Pics: Accidents in India

This is a discussion on Pics: Accidents in India within Road Safety, part of the Team-BHP category; Originally Posted by a4anurag
What kind of metal is that on the fender and bonnet?
No idea, but that is ...

No idea, but that is a steel-reinforced concrete pole, right? People die hitting stuff like that! Try hitting any part of any car with a length of that!

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Originally Posted by harry10

Eyes playing trick or he actually drove it after that nasty hit. That fog lamp is still dangling out. Should have taken it on a flat bed for repairs.

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Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

He did try to drive, but had smoke pouring out of the tailpipes, and the transmission refused to work. The flatbed was there (see the video where it tows the car away from the lamp-post), but it was taking too long to load up the car, so I left.

He tried to drive? Was there a certain smell on his breath? It takes more than usual, sober, skill to hit a pole that size when there is so much space around it. Or amazingly bad luck. Or, perhaps another vehicle that immediately escaped the scene?

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Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Wondering why it started to smoke though? It seems there was no damage to the engine or was there?

My bet is that there is a lot of damage there. I wonder if the steering will work properly? turn full lock? Brakes? Cooling system?

Sorry for my ignorant levels in vehicular construction but the body seems to be too delicate.

IMO, one pole and.... Look at the fog lamp!

Anurag.

Anurag, from what angle do you think that is delicate? He has pretty sure gone into the pole at solid speed not just tapped it. The build quality is impeccable to come out with such minimal damage. Any other car I'm sure would be wrapped around that pole.

The biggest shock is that the car still runs!!! with even the broken headlight working.

That's some solid construction. Driver should be thankful he is driving a Q7 and he walked out with nothing.

Metal sheet just gives the car its shape. That has nothing to do with the strength of the car these days. For strength, they have cross braced members and strengthened framework to protect the passengers. The metal which is visible outside is just to give its shape. I think the windshield and glass around is much stronger than the thin, light weight metal.

Have the airbags deployed? How could that guys drive it even if the airbags were deflated?

Don't think so. Cant see airbag deployed in any of the pics. I suspect this was a drunken driving and speed racing incident. By the looks of the road it seems pretty empty at that hour so no way a person can go and smash into that pole if he is in complete senses and speed limit.

I was witness to a horrific motorcycle crash on inner ring road close to the Dell office on Friday 29th August. The wife and I were heading from Koramangala towards Domlur flyover when a black R15 zipped past me at break neck speed. I must have been going 50, and I could hardly see him as he sped past, he was going that fast!

Seconds later he was on the ground, the bike in pieces and a pool of blood already forming. It looked like he had rammed into the police post in the divider, the post had fallen down from the impact! I didn't see what exactly .

Reswaran your act of carrying the injured biker to the hospital is commendable and sad that the biker did not survive. Not many would stop and help in the situation. I would say that it is providence that the biker did not take out any innocent pedestrian or another fellow biker considering the speeds at which he was zooming at on the busy road. I only hope that other street racers like him learn the lesson!

Metal sheet just gives the car its shape. That has nothing to do with the strength of the car these days. For strength, they have cross braced members and strengthened framework to protect the passengers. ... ... ...

Yes, those are there, particularly in places like doors, but isn't it the principle of monocoqueconsruction, unlike the chassis of former ages, that the strength is very much in that metal sheet and how it is shaped?

The bonnet, of course is not part of that. Strong bonnets would be slicing the vehicle occupants. I imagine that a bonnet has to be just strong enough to support itself and not bend when it is opened and closed, but weak enough that, in the event of an accident it does just crumple out of the way.

Yes, those are there, particularly in places like doors, but isn't it the principle of monocoqueconsruction, unlike the chassis of former ages, that the strength is very much in that metal sheet and how it is shaped?

The bonnet, of course is not part of that. Strong bonnets would be slicing the vehicle occupants. I imagine that a bonnet has to be just strong enough to support itself and not bend when it is opened and closed, but weak enough that, in the event of an accident it does just crumple out of the way.

This looks like a success!

Good you brought this up. Is the superficial skin of these modern day cars part of the monocoque or is the monocoque shell covered superficially by a second shape forming thin layer which does not contribute to strength? Or do they use semi-monocoque structures.

Googled a bit and got this from wikipedia -

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Commercial car bodies are almost never monocoques; instead modern cars use unitary construction or unit body, unibody, or Body Frame Integral construction, with box sections, bulkheads and tubes providing most of the strength of the vehicle, to which the skin adds relatively little to the strength or stiffness.

In modern motor racing however, the safety of the driver depends on the extraordinary strength of the car body which must meet stringent design regulations.
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Anurag, from what angle do you think that is delicate? He has pretty sure gone into the pole at solid speed not just tapped it. The build quality is impeccable to come out with such minimal damage. Any other car I'm sure would be wrapped around that pole.

That's some solid construction. Driver should be thankful he is driving a Q7 and he walked out with nothing.

Completely agree. It has taken the hit well. After seeing the images of the Honda city that wrapped and a Swift that met with the same fate, I can anyday bet on this car. The parts meant to be damaged are damaged, while the parts that are meant to be rigid have remained so.

OTOH, damage to the Q7 is severe when it comes to the transaxle. Upon that it was started too. Not sure if people in the service center are capable enough to get the whole thing back to its original form.

I'm curious to know how fast he might have been going to make that kind of an impact. I would imagine that at slower speed the impact would deflect the vehicle to one side. The largely intact fender and the clean break near the right end makes it seem that the pole impacted very near the edge -- in which case it must have been very high speed?

I was witness to a horrific motorcycle crash on inner ring road close to the Dell office on Friday 29th August. The wife and I were heading from Koramangala towards Domlur flyover when a black R15 zipped past me at break neck speed. I must have been going 50, and I could hardly see him as he sped past, he was going that fast!

...

I have always loathed speed junkies, and this incident has increased my hatred for them even more.

Great effort from your end.

I have been in such a situation - not as bad as yours but in my case the girl whose legs were run over an Indica survived. I shudder to think would I have had the courage to do what you did as the injuries seemed so grave.. great effort from your end. Maybe one gets the motivation/drive on the spot for such actions.

As for the biker - it was a holiday with literally no one on the road (I know - I had to travel a lot on this day) That might have prompted the speed.
Though no matter what one says; one cannot actually justify the speeds at which a lot of R15s and KTMs ride. Feel bad for his parents, who have to beat the trauma for all their life. I wish you can recover fast from the incident.

Post the death of the guy - were you asked to be a witness or anything by the Police?

And another word for anyone reading this post - the old adage - 'Speed Thrills But Kills'. Whenever you feel you really want to give the bike/car a big rip - think about your family; absolutely nothing is more important than that.

I was witness to a horrific motorcycle crash on inner ring road close to the Dell office on Friday 29th August. The wife and I were heading from Koramangala towards Domlur flyover when a black R15 zipped past me at break neck speed. I must have been going 50, and I could hardly see him as he sped past, he was going that fast!

Hats off to you Sir. May god give you the courage to come out of the trauma.

Last edited by bblost : 1st September 2014 at 12:14.
Reason: Please avoid quoting a full post. Thanks.

I was witness to a horrific motorcycle crash on inner ring road close to the Dell office on Friday 29th August.

I appreciate your efforts and grit in this case and also your wife for her cooperation. Let the poor soul of the biker RIP. I understand your trauma post this incident and pray to Almighty that you come of it soon!

2 people are dead in this latest accident and 3 others are seriously wounded. The cause of collusion, Qualis overtaking a ST Bus and subsequently hitting a tempo coming from opposite direction head on.

Hope efforts are done by concerned authorities to place dividers on this accident prone highway.

Man, hats off to you for that gesture of taking him to hospital. Many shy away seeing the accident in fear of a police case etc leaving the victim bleeding to death.
Anurag.

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Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Kudos to you for your efforts to save him. Not many people would be big hearted to carry a bleeding accident victim in their car.

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Originally Posted by arunphilip

Well done, you're among the rarer people who stop to assist accident victims. Its even more noteworthy that you stepped up to help when travelling with your wife.

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Originally Posted by Rajeev1

Reswaran your act of carrying the injured biker to the hospital is commendable and sad that the biker did not survive. Not many would stop and help in the situation.

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Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Hats off to you Sir. May god give you the courage to come out of the trauma.

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Originally Posted by Gokrish

I appreciate your efforts and grit in this case and also your wife for her cooperation.

Thank you all. I have been lucky enough to have been helped by a good samaritan when I had an accident over two years ago, and I had promised myself I will return the favor whenever possible.

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Originally Posted by pratyush6

Post the death of the guy - were you asked to be a witness or anything by the Police?

Neither in this case, nor in the case of a less serious (read fractures) incident last year, the hospital or anyone else asked me for anything at all. Things are different these days, the hospital staff attend to the victim immediately, and the person who brought them in are not asked for their identity.

I am not sure if this is because of some sort of legislation, but the way both hospitals (Yashomati Marathahalli and Manipal) behaved similarly. They were courteous, almost thankful, asked for only details about the incident and asked me to leave whenever I wanted to.

I think the days of harassment and legal trouble for good samaritans are over and more of us should lend a helping hand to accident victims. After all, our country has the highest number of accidents in the world!